A True Hero
by Heartsky
Summary: When the Kongs receive the startling news that K. Rool has developed a likely fatal illness, most of them can't help but be glad that their problems with the kremlings are over. But Chunky feels that letting K. Rool die without trying to help him is wrong. He strikes out on his own to find a cure, but can the timid ape get past his fears and doubts without his family?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So some of you are probably wondering why I took down "The Last Member" and put this earlier version of the story back up. Well, I've decided that I need to to take a break from fanfiction for a while. But I didn't want to leave behind an unfinished story, and since I was pretty close to the finishing this earlier version when I took it down, I decided I'd put it back up and finish it off before I officially go on hiatus.**

 **I haven't changed all that much-just a slight tweak here and there- except that before, there was a chapter about what some Kremlings were doing at Hideout Helm. I wasn't really happy with that chapter and I personally feel I should have waited until Chunky arrived at Hideout Helm to have any kremlings make appearances, so that's what I'm doing this time. You can safely disregard that chapter if you remember it at all.**

 **I first started writing this version of the story quite a few years ago, so it's definitely got some flaws (especially the early chapters), but overall I'm happy with it and hope you can get some enjoyment out of it.**

 **For those of you who are new to this story, I'm just going to mention that it's mainly based on Donkey Kong 64. I have somewhat limited knowledge of the other Donkey Kong games so please bear with me if I get a few things wrong.**

 **For the first and last time, I do not own Donkey Kong.**

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~CHAPTER 1~

It seemed to be a normal end to a normal day on Donkey Kong Island. The Kongs were celebrating another victory against K. Rool. Donkey Kong's banana hoard was safe, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky, and Chunky were free, and the Blast-O-Matic was shut down.

The Kongs were having a party on the beach. Donkey Kong was eating bananas so fast he was practically _breathing_ them. Diddy watched and just shook his head. _He's not eating bananas,_ he thought, _he's_ going _bananas,_ but he knew Donkey had worked hard lately and needed to have some fun. He was startled as he heard a soft, sweet giggle behind him.

He spun around to see Dixie smiling at him mischievously. "Do you wanna help me test this new Jet Pack Funky made? It's powered completely by Orange Grenades, so the danger level is high!" Diddy just grinned and nodded. The two ran off, and would surely end up causing trouble.

A few moments later, Candy arrived, wearing a long, sleeveless hot pink dress and had her blonde hair atop her head in an updo. She began talking in her most sugary voice. "Donkey dear, how would you like to...oh!" She shrieked as she saw Donkey shoving bananas into his mouth. "Donkey, what are you doing?!" she practically screamed, all of the sugar out of her voice. He turned his head and said,

"Donkey eating bananas."

Candy let out a groan and said, exasperated. "WHAT have I told you about using proper English?"

Donkey quickly replied, "Oh, right. I meant _I_ am eating bananas."

Candy narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you start talking like that when you are around bananas? Or even _thinking_ about bananas?" Her voice got louder and her face turned red. "I bet you like bananas more than me! I bet if you had to choose between me and bananas, you would choose bananas, right?"

Donkey cowered. He was too scared to say anything, but Candy took his silence the wrong way. "I KNEW it! Well, you and me are over. Don't even try getting me back, because I'm over you! Stay away from me, you disgusting freak!" She stormed off. "Wait, Candy!" Donkey started to follow her, but she just turned and glared at him. "I'm going home." She declared flatly. Donkey sat down and whimpered pitifully.

Suddenly, a chorus of squawks filled the air. The Kong's parrot friend, Squawks, flew over from K. Rool's Mechanical Island. He had been spying on K. Rool to be sure he wasn't already planning anything new. Lanky looked up and said, "Hey Squawks. Anything to report?" Squawks started chirping excitedly.

"I've got big, big news!" All the Kongs gathered around. (Except for Candy, Diddy, and Dixie, of course). Squawks chattered excitedly, "K. Rool's got some Kremling sickness called Kremling Kough. Apparently you get it from being in the rain too much."

Tiny smirked. "I'm not surprised. It's _always_ raining on that mechanical island of his. But why should we care? K. Rool has a cold. So what?"

Squawks looked Tiny in the eye. "Kremling Kough is no cold, Tiny. It sounds mild and harmless, but it's not. It's a severe chest infection that can often be fatal. And in K. Rool's case, it's headed that way."

For a moment there was silence. Then suddenly the beach erupted with cheers. "No more stealing Donkey's banana hoard!" Donkey cheered.

"No more getting captured!" Lanky shouted as he began dancing rather clumsily.

"No more bothersome young apes complaining about their problems to me!" Cranky jeered.

"That Kremling just couldn't take my FIREPOWER!" Funky said, even though firepower had nothing to do with K. Rool's sickness.

"Good riddance, I say." Tiny added. Everyone on the beach was celebrating. Everyone except Chunky, that is.

He just stood where he was, staring at the ground, twiddling his thumbs behind his back. He seemed pretty downcast for some reason. No one noticed him though. After a while he slipped away quietly.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance. Everyone's attention snapped toward the noise. A few moments later, Diddy came hurtling through the air on a Jet Pack, Dixie clinging onto it for her life. A huge cloud of smoke was behind them, and the half the Jet Pack was blown off.

A loud thud could be heard as they crashed onto the beach.


	2. Chapter 2

~CHAPTER 2~

Diddy slowly got up and shook the sand out of his fur. "Yeah, um, the orange grenades kind of all went off at once instead of one at a time, so the Jet Pack didn't really work. Say, where's Candy?" Donkey Kong burst into tears at that.

Dixie looked confused. "Did we miss something?"

Lanky nodded. "First of all, K. Rool has a terrible sickness that will probably end up being fatal. And Candy broke up with Donkey Kong."

Diddy gasped. "Oh, Donkey I'm so sorry!" He ran over to comfort his heartbroken uncle.

Suddenly, Tiny realized Chunky was missing. "Has anyone seen Chunky?" Everyone shook their heads. Suddenly Tiny felt worried. She quickly ran off the beach and into the jungle area where Donkey Kong's house was. She looked around, then spotted Chunky sitting at a little pond nearby. She slowly walked up to him and sat next to her cousin.

"Is something wrong, Chunky?" She asked quietly.

He bit his lip, then said, "I...I just couldn't watch you all celebrating like that...it kind of made me feel...sick." Tiny was puzzled.

"What do you mean?" Chunky sighed. How he felt would be heard to explain. Maybe it would be better if he just stayed quiet. "Chunky...come on, we're cousins, and best friends. You can tell what's on your mind. I promise I won't laugh at you." Tiny said reassuringly.

Chunky took a deep breath and began, "Well, don't you think that celebrating someone else's death is a little...low, for a Kong?"

"Huh?" Tiny said.

"I mean, isn't celebrating someone else's death something you'd picture a _villain_ doing? I thought we were the heroes, and heroes help anyone in trouble, right?"

Tiny gasped. "Chunky, don't tell me you feel _sorry_ for K. Rool? Are you crazy? How can you feel sorry for a _Kremling_?" Chunky didn't respond. "Kremlings and Kongs have never been friends! You know why?" Chunky lifted his head.

"Why not?" He said rather angrily. Tiny was surprised. Chunky almost never got angry.

"Because you _can't trust a Kremling_! They're liars and thieves! You know that, Chunky!" Tiny said vehemently. Suddenly she calmed down. "I'm sorry, Chunky. I didn't mean to snap at you. But I think you need to go to a doctor and get your head checked." She stood up and walked away, shaking her head. She knew Chunky was a sweet guy, but...feeling sorry for a Kremling? Something had to be wrong with him.

Chunky stared at the horizon. The sun was setting, casting a reddish-orange glow over everything. _Tiny, my own cousin, thinks I'm crazy. The other Kongs will probably think the same thing._ he thought sadly. _Sure, K. Rool's been a bully, but...he never actually tried to kill us. His minions give us some bruises or knock us out for a while, but if he wanted to kill us, he would have by now, when he had most of us captured. I...I just can't stand by while someone else is dying. It doesn't matter who it is._ Chunky had made up his mind. One way or another, he was going to try to save K. Rool.

 _But what should I do? Well, maybe there's some kind of medicine to cure Kremling Kough. But I'd have to find out what it is and where to find it. Maybe it'd say in a library or something..._ Chunky thought hard to try and remember if there was a library somewhere. Then he gasped in horror as he realized there was a library. In a castle. In _Creepy_ Castle, one of Chunky's least favorite places in the world. "I guess I have to go to Creepy Castle..." He murmured.

What he didn't realize was that Tiny was hiding in a bush nearby, watching him.


	3. Chapter 3

~CHAPTER 3~

Tiny ran onto the beach, a frightened expression on her face. As she approached, everyone looked up at her curiously. "Where were you?" Diddy questioned her. She stopped a few feet in front of him, breathing heavily.

"Chunky...we've got to...stop him..."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Lanky interrupted.

Tiny waited until her breathing returned to normal, then started talking so fast you could barely tell what she was saying."Chunky thinks he's going to help K. Rool something must be wrong with him we have to stop him he's going to Creepy Castle I'm not sure why I'm so worried!"

"Wha-at?" Dixie nearly screeched, her eyes huge.

"Why would he go and do a thing like that?" Cranky yelled.

Diddy replied, "Well, maybe he felt under-appreciated and decided to switch sides."

Tiny shook her head vigorously. "Chunky's not the sort of monkey who would do that sort of thing!"

Dixie nodded."Tiny's right. Chunky would never do that. He's not selfish or attention-hungry." As he listened to his girlfriend and her sister's objections, he realized that he didn't really know Chunky very well-he was around at family gatherings and whatnot, but he couldn't remember ever having a real _conversation_ with Chunky. He was just so timid it was easy to overlook him. It left Diddy feeling a little guilty.

"I bet K. Rool isn't even sick! I bet he's just pretending to be sick so he can trick us into thinking we don't have to worry about him so we'll let our guard down, then he'll attack!" Funky theorized.

"Hey!" Squawks protested. "Have you forgotten that the only reason we know K. Rool is sick is because I was spying on him? He couldn't have known I was there!"

Funky considered this for a moment."Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were a lousy spy, Squawks."

Lanky started jumping up and down. "Oooh, I bet I know what's going on! I bet one of the Kremlings is mind controlling Chunky!"

Diddy rolled his eyes."Next you'll be telling me Kremlings are actually aliens!"

Lanky's eyes widened. "I bet you're right! I bet they _are_ aliens!"

"There's no such things as aliens. You youngsters believe everything you hear nowadays." Cranky grumbled.

Suddenly Tiny yelled, "YOU GUYS! Please stop. This is an EMERGENCY! The _reality_ is that Chunky is trying to help cure K. Rool. I don't know what's wrong with him, but we've gotta stop him before he gets hurt or even..." She trailed off.

"Killed?" Donkey finished for her.

Tiny nodded. "So if you all wanna sit here making up stories, you can, but I'm going to go stop Chunky."

"Tiny, don't be like that." Diddy said. "Of course we're coming with you."

Tiny sighed."I'm sorry. I'm just so worried."

Lanky chuckled."We hadn't noticed." He said sarcastically. Tiny's face drew into a sheepish smile.

Dixie looked sideways at Donkey. "You know, we should probably tell Candy what's happened and invite her to come with..."

Donkey whimpered. "Do we _have_ to?"

Tiny narrowed her eyes. "Of course we do! This is a family emergency! She has the right to know."

Donkey sighed."I guess you're right." Dixie, Lanky, and Tiny ran off to tell Candy what had happened. They returned shortly with Candy. "You're coming?" Donkey exclaimed.

"Of course!" Candy shot back, staring at Donkey icily. "Just 'cause I'm mad at you doesn't mean I'm going to ignore my family and friends."

"All right, is everyone ready to go?" Tiny said in a very authoritative voice as she flipped a blonde ponytail over her shoulder.

In the midst of replies such as "Yes," "Yep," and "Yeah," Cranky raised his voice above the others. "No, I'm not."

Tiny groaned."Well, of course not! I wasn't expecting you to come, you'd be too slow." She said impatiently.

Cranky's nostrils flared. "That not what I meant, you flippant whelp!" He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. "Slow down a minute. Why are you all so dead-set on stopping Chunky?"

"Um, maybe because he could get seriously hurt!" Tiny replied.

Cranky let out an exasperated sigh."I know it's dangerous. But why can't you go _help_ him instead of trying to stop him? Together, I'm sure you wouldn't have much to worry about."

"Are you saying you _agree_ with Chunky? He wants to help the _enemy_. It seems pretty clear-cut that it's the _wrong_ thing to do."

Cranky's voice shook angrily. "Just because someone thinks differently than you doesn't mean they're crazy. And if someone disagrees with you, it's important to listen to them and consider their point of view." He looked away. "Ignoring the possibility that you might be wrong about some things is how you end up doing things you may be ashamed of for the rest of your life!"

The other Kongs backed away nervously as Cranky gripped his cane so hard you could see the veins in his hands.

"Well, are you coming or not?" Candy stomped her foot impatiently.

Cranky ignored her and stiffly began walking toward his lab. He muttered, "Crazy stubborn kids." Tiny shrugged, and the Kongs turned to leave. When Cranky finally reached his lab, went inside, and sat down in his rocking chair, he quietly and bitterly murmured, "No one ever listens to me."


	4. Chapter 4

~CHAPTER 4~

Chunky seemed to be frozen in place. In front of him was the biggest cannon that he - or any other Kong - had ever seen. It was the cannon that would propel a monkey to Creepy Castle, Chunky's personal least favorite place to go in the entire world. _Why, oh why does the only library I know of have to be in Creepy Castle?_ Chunky wondered worriedly to himself.

He really, really didn't want to go in that cannon. Maybe he could just forget the whole thing. _NO._ A stubborn voice inside him told him he couldn't just forget it. Someone was in trouble and he had to do his best to help.

Suddenly images of all the fear, pain, and suffering the Kongs had gone through because of K. Rool flashed through Chunky's head, trying to give him an excuse not to go. But he pushed them away. He was going and that was that.

He took a few steps forward, and then he was launched into the air, higher and higher, into the dark clouds above.

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Suddenly Chunky landed, and not on a soft, fluffy cloud, either. On hard, cold earth. He slowly stood up and sighed. Here he was. Creepy Castle. Cold rain pelted his fur, and wind howled, sending a shiver down his spine. He looked around. _Great,_ he thought as he realized he had landed on the small floating island separate from the rest of Creepy Castle.

There was a bridge between this island and the rest of creepy castle, but it was very long and skinny. _I hate this bridge..._ Chunky thought ruefully. He slowly stepped onto the bridge. It groaned. It was soaking wet, so it was pretty soft and bent under Chunky's weight. _I really hate this bridge..._

He slowly made his way across, trying desperately to not look down. He knew what he would see if he did: darkness. No solid ground. If he fell, there was absolutely no way he could survive. He was too high up. The farther out Chunky went, the more the soggy bridge bent.

But it didn't break. He made it all the way across and it didn't break. He bent over and kissed the ground when he reached the other side. Of course, his relief did not last long. He had only passed his first obstacle. He had a long way to go before he reached the library.

The rain and cold seemed to soak right into Chunky's bones. The very air seemed to whisper of despair and loneliness. It was worse than last time. At least then he had the other Kongs at his side. This time he was utterly alone. He walked across wet grass and climbed up rickety wooden ladders. So much of this place looked so similar. Chunky lost all sense of distance. All he knew was that he must keep going.

For a long while he saw no one. There seemed to be nothing here, living or undead. You might think this was a great relief; but it made Chunky feel worse. His feeling of loneliness was increasing by the second. He felt deserted, as if he was the last creature in the whole world and he would be stranded alone forever. Then, without warning, there was some rustling in the dead branches of some bushes.

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Meanwhile, at the entrance to Creepy Castle, all of the Kongs except Candy had crossed the bridge. "Come on, Candy." Lanky called.

"That thing doesn't look stable." Candy said nervously.

"Aw, don't worry. We all made it across okay." Diddy encouraged her.

"Fine, fine." She cautiously made her way across. Everything seemed fine until she was almost on the other side. But suddenly the bridge groaned loudly and sagged. Candy gasped.

Donkey Kong jumped onto the bridge, picked Candy up, and threw her safely to the other side. Then the bridge gave way, and Donkey started to fall. Candy screamed. She ran to the edge of the floating island. She reached down and grabbed Donkey's hand before he fell too far. Donkey was heavier than Candy, so she started sliding closer and closer to the edge. Tiny and Lanky rushed forward and each grabbed one of Candy's feet and pulled her and Donkey up. Diddy ran to Donkey and hugged his uncle, glad he was safe.

For a few minutes no one said anything. The shock of what had almost just happened silenced them. Candy stared at the ground. After a few minutes, Tiny broke the silence. "We better get moving."

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Farther into Creepy Castle, Chunky was having his own problems. Three bone-kritters jumped out of the bushes. For a second, Chunky was relieved to finally see a living (well, sort of...) thing besides himself. But then he became worried. How would he fight off all three at once?

He punched one of the bone-kritter's heads off, but the other two ganged up on him. Each one grabbed one of his arms and twisted it behind him. Pain shot through his arms. He kicked one of them. The bone-kritter's grip loosened, and Chunky pulled his arm free. But then, two more bone-kritters appeared out of nowhere. _I am so dead._ Chunky thought.

But then, a blinding light filled his eyes and a deafening roar filled his ears. Searing pain shot through his left arm. Slowly, the roaring he heard ebbed away, and his vision also faded, until he could see nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

~CHAPTER 5~

Chunky couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything, either, except for a ringing in his ears. His whole body felt numb.

Slowly his vision began to return, and the ringing in his ears faded away. Chunky stared at the sky in shock. What had just happened? Slowly, he started to hear the thunder again, and eventually his hearing recovered enough for him to hear the rain falling.

The numbness in his body was wearing off, so he sat up and looked around. The bone-kritters lay in pieces beside him, and there was a patch of blackened ground under one of them, emitting smoke into the air. Chunky's boggled mind began to put the pieces together. One of the bone-kritters had been struck by lightning. Chunky and the other bone-kritters had been close enough to be affected by it too, but the bone-kritters, being made of only bones, hadn't withstood the impact as well as Chunky had.

Eventually, Chunky was able to stand up, although it did hurt, as if he had been sunburned. Other than that, Chunky didn't notice any other immediate problems caused by the lightning strike-except for his left arm. It still felt completely numb. It must have been closer to the lightning then the rest of him.

Suddenly, Chunky heard voices. "I wonder why Chunky came here, anyways. There isn't anything here that could help K. Rool, is there?" Chunky recognized the voice of Diddy. _Oh no,_ he thought to himself. _The other Kongs came to stop me._

Chunky quickly stood up and began running up the boardwalk which wound around the castle, doing his best to ignore the pain that movement brought. After a while, he saw the door labeled "Library." Bingo! That was what he was looking for. But then he remembered that in order to open the door, you had to pound a switch farther up the boardwalk. Chunky ran a little farther up the boardwalk until he came to an unlabeled door with a switch in front of it. That switch opened the door marked "Library." Except there was one problem. This switch was specifically meant for Donkey Kong. It wouldn't matter how hard Chunky pounded it, it wouldn't work for him.

But then Chunky remembered that the unlabeled door also led into the library. Donkey Kong had told the Kongs that after he had ventured into the library the first time. But there was no knob on the outside, so it must only open from the inside. _Darn it!_ Chunky thought.

Desperate to avoid being confronted by the other Kongs, Chunky did the only thing he could think of: he punched the door with his right hand, putting all his strength into the punch. The door flew apart, splinters scattering everywhere.

Chunky entered the library cautiously. He was in a small, empty room, but ahead of him was a hallway lined with bookshelves. Flying in and out of the shelves were books, obviously haunted. Angry little eyes stared out of the books and at him, daring him to even try walking down the hallway.

Chunky gulped. Donkey Kong had been able to use his invincibility power when he had been here, but Chunky didn't have use of that power. He would just have to hope he could get through without getting injured too badly. He stood there a moment, gathering his wits, then ran forward. He felt a book hit the side of his head. Disoriented, he stopped running and realigned himself to face the other end of the hall.

He ran forward again, head bent. Books hit his legs, nearly knocking him over. They hit his arms, too. When a book hit his right arm, he felt it, searing like fire because of the burns from the lightning strike. But when a book hit his left arm, he realized with alarm, he didn't feel a thing. No feeling had returned to it at all.

Finally, bruised but not injured badly, Chunky made it to the end of the hall. Chunky walked down a few empty corridors, feeling apprehensive because he didn't hear anything making any noise. It was a little _too_ quiet.

Suddenly he heard some squeaking noises and a few big, purple bats flew toward him, but he managed to avoid them pretty well. Finally, he entered the main library room. Shelves lined every wall, and all the shelves were filled with books. In the center of the room, three huge, red-covered books sat in a pile. Chunky was curious. What in the world could be inside them? He lifted the cover of one, only to find it was blank. Strange.

He turned to look at the shelves filled with books. After ten agonizing minutes of searching he finally found a book that might be useful. It was entitled "Kremling Diseases, Illnesses, and Other Ailments." Chunky flipped open the book. The first page described, in detail, the life and education of K. Ure, the author, who was apparently a very famous Kremling Doctor. _So,_ Chunky thought to himself, _Kremlings_ do _have doctors. Apparantly K. Rool didn't think he would need one, though._ Chunky continued flipping through the book, past "Alligator Aches", "Crocodile Chills", and "Demoralizing Diarrhea", until he finally found the illness the had been searching for.

 _Kremling Kough- A Kremling gets Kremling Kough from spending too much time in the damp and cold. It is a severe chest infection that is almost always fatal. There has only been one case that has not resulted in death. This is because the only known cure for Kremling Kough, the Soleil Mushroom, is extremely rare. It has been found growing next to trees in woodland areas sometimes, but only once in a great while. It has an unusual golden color._

Chunky stared at the page, feeling discouraged. "rare" and "once in a great while" were not very encouraging words. It seemed Chunky's chances of helping K. Rool were pretty slim. But he still had to try. He just had to!

Chunky noticed it was getting rather warm in the library. He took his baseball cap off his sweaty, furry head and set it down on one of the giant books. What sort of woody areas were around here? Chunky wondered. Then, suddenly it came to him, like a light bulb turning on inside his head. Fungi Forest! Of course! Eager to see if his hunch was correct, Chunky raced out of the room, leaving the open book and his baseball cap on top of the pile of giant books.


	6. Chapter 6

~CHAPTER 6~

Candy plodded along behind the other Kongs. A tense silence still hung in the air- the shock of Candy's near-death experience hadn't worn off yet. They slowly but surely made their way through Creepy Castle. Their silence seemed to intensify the dark, somber mood of the place.

Candy looked to the front of the group, to where Donkey Kong and Tiny were leading the way. She bit her lip. Donkey had just saved her life! He had risked _everything_ for her. He could have died! His actions had proven to her, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she meant much more to him than a pile of bananas. She felt perfectly awful for yelling at him earlier.

She wanted to make things right between them, but for once all her charming, sweet words abandoned her. When she tried to think of what she should say to him, her mind went blank. How could she apologize for doubting him like that?

So she stayed silent for the moment. After walking a while longer, Diddy broke the silence. "I wonder why Chunky came here, anyways. There isn't anything here he could use to help K. Rool, is there?"

Lanky shook his head. "Not that I can think of."

"He could be anywhere in Creepy Castle! There are so many doors he could have gone into! Or maybe he didn't go inside at all!" Tiny said anxiously.

Donkey Kong sighed. Tiny was right. Chunky could be anywhere. "Let's just keep walking. Maybe we'll find a clue about where he went," he said. No one had any better ideas, so the group kept walking. They passed door after door, unsure of what they should do until a startling sight met their eyes. One of the doors was busted open, and splinters of wood were everywhere. The Kongs stared at it.

Finally, Donkey spoke up. "Chunky must have been here."

The Kongs carefully made their way inside. When the group saw the haunted books, they shrunk away from them. "What are those?!" Candy said, frightened.

Donkey tried to comfort her. "Don't worry, Candy. I've been here before. There's another way in. I have to hit a switch to open the door, though. I'll be right back." He disappeared out of the room. Candy's face reddened a little, as she was still feeling ashamed of herself. A few moments later, Donkey Kong tore past them, yelling, "Follow me!" Tiny was going to ask him why he was in such a terrible rush, but he was gone before she could say a word. The group quickly moved to follow him.

The entire group of Kongs ran back to the door marked "Library." There was empty space between the door and the ramp they were standing on. Well, not _exactly_ empty; there was a cloud hovering between the door and the ramp. Donkey jumped onto the cloud and to the door. He held it open. "Okay, guys. You need to get in quickly, because this thing closes after about 20 seconds, so I'll have to keep it open for you. So please hurry, it's already trying to close!" Donkey was straining to keep the door open. Diddy scampered across the cloud and stood just inside the doorway, waiting for the others.

Dixie shouted, "Right behind you!" She followed Diddy, doing a cartwheel across the cloud. Diddy high-fived her when she got to the other side. "Nice!"

"Thanks!" Dixie said, blushing.

Tiny rolled her eyes. "Oh, brother!" she said quietly, smiling. She was glad her sister and Diddy made each other happy, but she still thought the way they acted was kind of silly. _Will I act like that around boys when I get a little older, too?_ She wondered to herself. Well, she didn't have time to worry about that now. Right now she just wanted to find her cousin.

Tiny jumped into the air and spun around. She reached the open door without even touching the cloud.

"Show off!" Dixie said, shoving her sister playfully. Tiny stuck out her tongue. How ironic that even here, in one of the gloomiest places in the world, Dixie and Tiny could still make each other smile.

The rest of the Kongs quickly filed into the room. Candy was the last to walk across the cloud. She had never liked high places, and the cloud didn't seem solid at all. Donkey Kong let out a grunt. The door couldn't be held open much longer. Candy took a deep breath, then walked across the cloud, not daring to look down.

Finally, she reached the other side. Donkey finally was able to let go of the door.

The group wandered around the library until Lanky spotted Chunky's hat and the open book in the room with the stack of giant books. "Chunky's been here!" He shouted. Everyone rushed in. "See? He left his hat in here."

Tiny approached the giant book-table and picked up the book on Kremling diseases. She read the page. "Guys, it says here that the cure for K. Rool's sickness grows in woodland areas."

"Hmm...let's see...well, that means he probably went to Fungi Forest...or maybe Jungle Japes, although I don't know if that counts as a _woodland_ area, but maybe it's close enough." Dixie deduced.

"Well, that means we should probably look in those places." Tiny muttered. "Okay! I think we should split up. Donkey, Funky, and Candy should look in Jungle Japes. Diddy, Lanky, Dixie, and I will look in Fungi Forest."

"Darn it. I was hoping we'd get to go to Gloomy Galleon..." Lanky mumbled to himself.

"Don't even say that! That place was awful! The only reason you like that place is because you swim like a fish!" Dixie argued. "The rest of us could hardly keep up with you!"

The corner of Lanky's mouth curled up at Dixie's compliment. Even most of his family usually just thought of him as a weirdo, so it was nice to hear that they did appreciate him once in a while.

"Well, anyway we better get moving." Dixie reminded the group. Everyone left the library. After walking a while, the group of monkeys reached the gap where the wooden bridge used to be. To their shock, a _new_ wooden board was where the old one stood. It was wider than the old one, too. Diddy surveyed the area until he noticed a large board was missing from a nearby shack. Chunky must have done it. Diddy was glad Chunky had replaced it, even if it was a hastily done job. The group crossed the bridge, left Creepy Castle, and split up.


	7. Chapter 7

~CHAPTER 7~

It was nowhere.

He had run all over Fungi Forest, looked under every tree, in every moss-covered log, every grassy field. But he could not find it.

Chunky was exhausted. His hunt for the soleil mushroom had been unfruitful and lengthy. The oversized ape ran a hand through his fur, trying to compose himself, but he felt the panic rising in his chest. _K. Rool is dying. I don't have time for this! Every second spent searching is another inch closer to his death._

Chunky tensed up rather suddenly when he realized that if he was running his hand through the fur on his head, he must not be wearing his hat. Dang it! He must have taken it off and left it somewhere.

This upset Chunky even more. He loved that hat, and now he had gone and lost it.

Not paying attention to where he was going, Chunky walked around distractedly. His mind was working at a frantic pace and he neglected to realize he was heading toward the well.

He placed a furry hand on the edge of the well, stopping to try to collect his thoughts. He didn't notice the zinger until it was alarmingly close.

When he saw the insect he screamed, and tried to step backwards to get away. The issue with that was that the well was behind him. He tripped, lost his balance, and fell in.

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As he fell, unpleasant memories came flooding into his mind.

 _Fire. Nothingness beneath the rails. Barrels of TNT. Kremlings with clubs._

Chunky began to despair. He wasn't looking forward to the ride ahead.

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He landed in the mine cart and it immediately began moving forward. _No! I have to get out!_ But there was no getting out. Carried by the momentum of his fall and his weight, the cart was already moving far too fast for Chunky to stop it now.

Chunky sped forward into the dark, dank tunnel. Pieces of metal, which seemed to be support beams of some sort, fell over once in a while along with rocks and rubble. There were a few torches burning here and there which were popping and crackling angrily. Chunky didn't like fire. It made him nervous. _Those torches are awfully close…_ he thought worriedly.

The beating inside the ape's chest elevated every time a rock or piece of rubble fell near him. He leaned from side to side in a frantic attempt to avoid them. He felt the entire cart begin to shift and groan until it came to a point of balance on one of the edges of the cart. The wheels began to scrape against the tracks. After passing the rubble, Chunky swiftly leaned back the other way to keep from falling. The mine cart slammed back onto the track roughly, slowing it down slightly.

Chunky almost didn't notice the gate which the cart was rolling toward. "Aaah!" He yelled, not wanting a collision with the gate. He stood up as quickly as he could and reached up to hit the green bell hanging above his head. His hand almost missed it, but Chunky heard a quiet ringing and knew he must have hit it. The gate flew up immediately. Normally, Chunky would have let out a breath of relief, but he hardly had time to be relieved. A rock fell just inches behind him, scraping the back of the mine cart. Chunky was seriously beginning to freak out. It was all just too much!

Suddenly, all of Chunky's frenzied thoughts came to a sudden halt.

The mine cart exited the dark tunnel it had been in and was suddenly riding the tracks in the middle of a beautiful field. The sun shone down, unobscured by clouds or trees. The warm, gold light of the sun hit him full force.

It would seem that Chunky was in some sort of canyon. Steep hills rose up around him in every direction, as if they were walls, forming a sort of bowl shape. A waterfall cascaded into the valley. The glint of sunlight was hitting the waterfall at just the right angle, so that ribbons of color emanated from it.

Chunky gaped at the rainbow, and at the sudden change in atmosphere. This place was so quiet and calm. Dew from the waterfall covered the vibrant green blades of grass, which made them glitter as if they were emeralds. Butterflies flitted about, and small woodland animals scurried up and down small trees.

Chunky was confused. _I don't remember this place from last time I fell in the well._

Chunky didn't have time to ponder about it further. The mine cart abruptly re-entered the tunnels at the other side of the canyon. Back into the dark. Back to the falling rocks and shut gates.

It was no mystery now why Chunky had forgotten the field last time. It had been so brief, and the rest of the ride was so panic-driven, it was easy to forget that glimpse of serenity.

The ape in the minecart became alert when he heard the sound of another minecart. He peered ahead and saw that, up ahead; there was another set of tracks alongside the set he was on.

Bending his knees, Chunky prepared to jump. He knew that a Kremling would appear riding in another minecart, club in hand, swinging at him. But when the minecart appeared, it was empty. No Kremling. Nothing. Just an empty cart.

Chunky stared at it, perplexed. Suddenly he realized something. The entire time he had been searching for a cure, he hadn't seen a single Kremling (except for the bone-kritters, but they were undead, so they didn't really count). Not a single Kremling. The reason why that might be was about to dawn on Chunky when he was shaken from his thoughts by the sight of a TNT barrel on wheels heading directly for him.

Chunky frantically tried to stop the cart so a collision wouldn't occur. He attempted to grab the rails to halt the mine cart, but his hand slipped. _Dang it!_

The TNT barrel crossed the track Chunky was on seconds before he arrived at the same spot. Disaster had been avoided, but Chunky felt no relief. He just wanted out.

The track brought him outside again, but this time there was no rainbow or sunshine. Rain pelted Chunky's fur, sending a chill through his body. Lightning came down in forked tongues, followed by the drum-like note of thunder.

A gust of wind blew, swift and strong, and finally knocked the entire cart over. Chunky was tossed from the cart and deposited into a pile of oozing mud.

Chunky started up at the sky, motionless, for a few moments. Until now, he had been able to keep all of his fear, pain, and discomfort at bay. But now everything collided with him like a freight train.

The icy touch of rain soaked through his fur and into his skin. The wind made it worse. The mud clung to him like a lonely child. Chunky felt stinging, biting pain in his left arm return full force. It was almost as painful as when he had first been struck by the lightning.

Chunky's determination was crumbling. _I just want to go home,_ he thought miserably. The huge, strong ape began to cry. He had failed. His search was a failure. K. Rool would die, and Chunky would probably be stuck here, alone, for a long time.


	8. Chapter 8

~CHAPTER 8~

All sense of time was lost to Chunky as he lay in the mud. Maybe he had managed to fall asleep somehow. Perhaps his fatigue had been too much. But for a long while, he knew nothing. The world was dark and silent. Vague, drifting thoughts wandered in and out of his mind, patternless and forgettable. Once in a while, he woke up slightly and saw the dim sky and the thin veil of rain.

This went on for some time, until a sound other than the pouring rain, gusting wind, or booming thunder entered his ears. It was a voice.

"Oh my gosh, he's over there!" The voice was high-pitched, obviously belonging to a female. The silvery, bell-like tone was all Chunky had to hear to know it was Dixie.

"Why is he just lying there?" This voice was straining to sound even and well-modulated, but there was a slight tremor in it. _Tiny._

A lower voice answered, obviously a male. "Don't worry, I'm sure he's not…" the voice trailed off. _Lanky._

"If he's dead, I will _kill_ K. Rool!" The last voice was a higher-pitched male voice, but it was edged with barely contained rage. _Diddy._

Chunky felt a spasm of panic run through himslef at the world 'kill'. He hardly knew what was happening anymore, but he knew that word. He knew what it meant.

Dixie spoke again. "He just moved! He must be alive!" The sound of feet squishing in the mud followed. Chunky felt a hand on his shoulder. "Wake up! Chunky, wake up!" Dixie begged him, shaking his shoulders.

Chunky fought to open his eyes. He was met with the sight of huge, emerald-green eyes, clouded over with worry.

Chunky didn't have the energy to act surprised. "Hi, Dixie. What are you guys doing here?" He tried to sound casual, tried not to let his exhaustion and emotional stress show through.

"We followed you here, silly! We were worried you'd get hurt! And it's a good thing we did, too! What happened to you?"

"I fell into the well, and then the minecart crashed…"

"You poor thing! We need to get you out of here. Do you think you can walk?"

Chunky started to respond, but weariness overtook him again, and his eyes closed and succumbed to the darkness again.

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When Chunky awoke again, he no longer felt wet or cold. He was covered in a warm blanket. The sky was still very dark, but now he saw stars instead of storm clouds. The sounds of the night drifted into his ears, the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls. A lone wolf howl sounded, and Chunky felt the loneliness of the cry reverberate through his soul.

He sat up slowly, cautiously. He was sitting in a small clearing near the clock tree in Fungi Forest, and the other Kongs were lying close to him, sleeping, except for Tiny, who was sitting up and staring at the sky.

She turned away from the sky when she heard him waking up. They stared at each other for a few moments, and then Chunky was forced to avert his eyes. Her green-tinged blue eyes burned at him too fiercely for him to continue staring.

Tiny stood up and walked over to him. She stood in front of him and crossed her arms, looking at him accusingly. "What were you _thinking_?! You could've gotten yourself _killed_! If we hadn't followed you…"

Chunky sighed. "I'm sorry, Tiny. I know it was dangerous to go alone. But if you guys had just come with me from the start, it wouldn't have been nearly as dangerous. But I knew you wouldn't agree to do that, especially after the way you reacted when I told you how I felt. I knew I couldn't trust you to support me then."

Tiny had been ready to snap back at him with a smart remark, but when she heard the last part, she felt herself freeze and shrivel up inside. All she had ever tried to be for her timid cousin was someone he could trust, someone he could run to when he felt upset. But now she knew she had failed him. He had come to her, upset and confused, and what had she done? She had scoffed at his feelings, had dismissed them as incorrect. She hadn't even _tried_ to understand him.

"Chunky…I…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I wouldn't listen to you. That was wrong of me."

"It's okay, Tiny. I should be grateful to you for putting up with me, even though the way I think isn't right."

"No, Chunky. There's nothing wrong with how you think. Your opinions should be respected, whether they are the same or different from everyone else's." She paused and brushed a piece of stray hair behind her ear. She sighed "I just don't understand why you're so concerned about K. Rool. I suppose I get why you thought our celebrating his death was a little morbid, but why should we do anything about it? Why should we put ourselves at risk for his sake?"

Chunky was silent for a few minutes, deep in thought. "I dunno, I guess…I guess that the idea of death just seems frightening and terrible to me. Thinking about _anyone_ dying makes me feel sad. I know everyone dies eventually, and that sometimes it's unavoidable, but…if I can prevent someone from dying, I want to try."

Tiny smiled at her cousin and shook her head. "You're nuttier that a pecan pie. But that's okay. You're just so...so _sweet_ , and I don't understand you 'cause I'm _not_. But you know what? If helping K. Rool is important to you, it's important to me, even if I don't understand why you want to do it."

Chunky was shocked. "Really?"

Then, Chunky hugged his much-smaller cousin. One would think that Tiny would be crushed by the large ape, but she wasn't. Despite his size and strength, Chunky could be very gentle.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" After all the mayhem and fear and loneliness of the day, Chunky felt the safest, happiest, and most secure he could ever remember feeling.

When he released Tiny, she looked up at him sternly. "Chunky, I will help you help K. Rool, but you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"Tomorrow, you just need to rest. You've been through a lot today and you need to recover. I'm willing to help K. Rool, but I will _not_ sacrifice my cousin for him."

The part of Chunky that had been awakened when he heard that K. Rool was dying, the part of him that would do anything to prevent another's death, wanted to argue. He had to keep going. He had to save the Kremling King. His more cowardly side said he should give up the search altogether. But Chunky's reason agreed with Tiny. Yes, he could still try to help, but he needed some rest. He was exhausted, physically and emotionally, and if he pushed himself much farther he might break.

So he agreed to Tiny's request. He hated to lose a day, but what else could he do? Besides, he wasn't sure what he would do when he _did_ continue his search. He had run out of places to look.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Chunky laid down to get some sleep. Tiny began to do the same, but suddenly looked at Chunky with concern. "Are you gonna be able to fall asleep okay? I know this place scares you at night…I could always use the cuckoo clock to make it daytime."

"No, it's alright. You'd wake everyone else up if you did that. Besides, I don't actually feel afraid right now." It was true. Like never before, being surrounded by his family made Chunky feel brave.

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"Should I check the caves again?"

Candy sighed. "You can if you want to, Funky, but I'm pretty sure Chunky's not here. He either went to Fungi Forest or left here already."

Funky shrugged and left to check the caves anyway. Candy wandered around the small clearing in Jungle Japes with all the small logs and the giant shell. Her mind wandered as well, not thinking about where she was or what she was doing.

In the time that had passed since the incident on the bridge at Creepy Castle, she'd hardly been able to think about anything else. After Donkey saved her from falling, she had started to reflect on their relationship. It had started out so innocently and honestly, but somewhere along the way, she had lost those qualities. He became nothing more to her than a trophy, only of value because he was famous and handsome. Her attachment to him had become hollow and meaningless, just as she herself had started to become.

 _When had this happened to her?_

 _When had she died inside?_

Candy was jolted out of her thoughts when she tripped on a rock and fell to the ground.

And suddenly _he_ was beside her, helping her up, asking if she was okay. It amazed her. How could he continue to care after she had dropped him on a whim?

He extended his massive, furry hand to her and opened his fist, revealing a small, white flower. Candy nearly choked at the sight of it. Happiness bubbled up inside her, and a single tear escaped her eye as she picked up the flower and wove it into her hair.

And suddenly, they were awkward, gangly teenagers again, both feeling shy, nervous, and uncertain, yet feeling a sort of warmth within them.

Candy could feel the cobwebs of her emptiness falling away as love for Donkey Kong returned to her. How had she forgotten this? How kind he was, how innocent, how brave. She had been a fool.

She looked him in the eye, scared to speak but knowing that she must speak or regret it forever.

"Can we start over?"

Donkey nodded. Nothing else needed to be said. Both knew what the other was feeling, and they understood each other. The connection they had lost was being rebuilt.


	9. Chapter 9

~CHAPTER 9~

Chunky awoke to the chirping of birds and the ticking of a clock. He breathed in the sweet smell of the dew-covered grass around him. _It must be morning._ He opened his eyes and sat up, taking in the sights of the forest around him. Clear blue skies. Rustic, tall mushrooms. Vibrant, green grass. Yes, today was a beautiful day. Maybe it was a sign that things would get better.

Chunky yawned and stretched as he stood up, suddenly noticing the other Kongs nearby. They were huddled together in a circle and speaking in hushed whispers.

The whispering ceased as they realized Chunky was awake. Diddy rushed over to him happily and hugged him.

Chunky gasped in pain as he came to the realization that he was very bruised. Diddy quickly backed away when he noticed Chunky's discomfort. "Oh, I'm sorry Chunky! I wasn't thinking. I'm just so glad to see you're alright!"

Dixie and Lanky also rushed over to Chunky. Tiny followed them but hung back a bit, exchanging a look with him. _It'd probably be better not to tell them that we're going to keep looking for the mushroom._ Chunky realized. _It'd take too long to convince them that I need to do this._ He nodded at Tiny, understanding her unspoken message.

Tears glistened on Dixie's cheeks as she approached Chunky. "Oh, Chunky! You scared us half to death!"

"I'm sorry, Dixie. It's just that I...well..."

Dixie held up a hand, taking a deep breath and trying to stop any more tears from falling. "It's alright, Chunky. You don't need to explain right now. I mean, look at you! You poor, poor thing. We need to fix you up." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Here, sit down so I can look at your injuries."

Chunky didn't protest. He was battered, bruised, and sore. And he hadn't realized how bad his left arm looked-most of the fur was missing and it was blistering. Any relief would be welcome.

After surveying Chunky's injuries, Dixie stood and turned to face the other Kongs.

"All right, I need several things in order to treat Chunky's wounds. First off, I need someone to go get water. I think there's a pond or river or something around here..."

Lanky spoke up eagerly. "Ooh! I remember where it is! I'll get some water." Dixie nodded to him and he ran off.

"Okay, the other thing I need is for someone to find something to use as bandages."

Diddy piped up. "I'll do that."

Tiny also responded. "I'll look too. Finding something to use as a bandage won't be easy in here."

"Alright. Thank you."

Diddy and Tiny scampered off to look around the forest.

When everyone else left, Dixie sat down next to Chunky. "So, how do you feel?"

"Better then yesterday, that's for sure. But I am really sore and these burns, they, well, _burn_."

Dixie nodded. "How exactly _did_ you get burned, anyway?"

Chunky knew Dixie would be upset, so he sort of mumbled his response. "Lightning."

"WHAT?"

"It was a lightning strike in Creepy Castle. It wasn't a direct hit though."

"Oh, Chunky." Dixie choked on whatever words she was going to say next and started crying again.

"I'm sorry Dixie. I really, really didn't mean to worry you."

"I know you didn't. It's just that...well, you're lucky to be alive, you know."

She sniffed and tried to wipe the tears off her face. She sighed, calming down, then muttered to herself. "All for that lousy kremling."

Chunky turned to Dixie and stared at her incredulously. "Dixie Kong, I think that just may be the most hateful thing I have ever heard you say."

Dixie's cheeks reddened and Chunky smiled. He had never teased her like that before, but he had to admit, it was kind of fun.

A few moments later, Lanky returned with a bucket of water. "Here you go, Dixie. Have Tiny and Diddy come back yet?"

"No."

Lanky sat down next to them, but after a few minutes, he stood back up. "I'm bored."

"Well, _sorry_! I would have thought you'd be glad for a few minutes of rest after looking for Chunky all day yesterday. Weren't you worried about him at all?!"

" _Of course_. But he's alright now, and I can't sit still."

Lanky walked over to the swinging pendulum on the clock, deftly jumped onto it, and climbed up it to the platform above.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Lanky whipped out his grape shooter and shot the target that changed it to night. The sun quickly set, the moon taking its place. Darkness engulfed Fungi Forest as the cuckoo bird popped out of the clock, letting out a warbled, "Tweet, tweeeet!", and then disappeared right back into the clock.

"Lanky! You know Chunky's scared of the dark!"

"Oh, _calm down_. It's not like he's not _allergic_ to it or anything."

He shot another grape at the switch that changed it to daytime. The moon faded and the sun burst from the horizon, bringing light back to the forest. The cuckoo bird emerged once again and called out loudly.

"What are you-"

Lanky shot the night switch again, then the day switch, then the night switch again.

"Lanky, cut it out!" Dixie cried out. Her eyes couldn't adjust to the constant change in lighting.

"Lanky, that's not funny!"

A grin spread over Chunky's face, and he started laughing.

Dixie sighed in exasperation. "Chunky!"

Chunky apologized in between bouts of laughter. "I'm...sorry...Dixie...but...can't...help...it!"

"Oh, fine. You can continue this ridiculous behavior, but only because poor Chunky is amused by it."

They continued with this for a few more minutes until a hard-edged voice made them all freeze. "Lanky, _what_ are you doing?"

Lanky had just shot the daytime switch, and he stood there, frozen, his grape shooter still in his hands, as the clock hands spun and the sun rose.

"Answer me."

He set his grape shooter down and looked over the railing of the platform. At the bottom stood Tiny, arms crossed over her chest.

Lanky gulped. "I...I...was just…"

"You were just being an idiot, as usual."

Lanky's face fell and he clambered down from the tower hurriedly, suddenly seeming very meek.

Chunky stared at his other cousin worriedly. Man, she could be a regular ice queen when she wanted to. Then again, she had never been all that friendly to Lanky. She didn't seem to have much tolerance for his antics.

"So, did you find anything to use as a bandage?" Dixie tried to distract everyone from the iciness in the air.

Tiny shook her head. "No, but Diddy said he had an idea of where he might find something, so hopefully he will be back in a few minutes."

"Oh, good."

Not much later, the Kongs could see the red-clad kong approaching, and he wasn't alone. Donkey, Candy, and Funky followed him.

It was hard to keep track of what was happening in the next few minutes. Excited babble filled the air and Chunky got hugged by each of them several times, followed by an "Oh, sorry!" as they remembered that he was injured. Amidst all the chatter, somehow Chunky came to understand that A) Diddy had gone back to the entrance to Fungi Forest and found sacks of flour, which he surmised could be used as bandages, B) Candy and Donkey were no longer fighting, and C) Everyone was absolutely ecstatic that he was all right.

As everyone talked to each other excitedly, Dixie emptied the flour sacks and dunked them in the bucket. The flour on the sacks began to clump together, and Dixie scraped it off.

Dixie then tore off a piece of one of the flour sacks, then began wiping off some of the dried blood off of Chunky's cuts. Then she tore off more pieces from the flour sack, dunked them in the water, and wrapped them around Chunky's cuts and burns.

After Chunky had been treated, everyone agreed that they were starving, and Donkey opened a bag of bananas he had brought with and they all began to eat.

"So, we should probably stay here tonight, so Chunky can recover a little more." Candy commented as they ate.

"Yes, and tomorrow we can go home, and this whole mess will be over." Diddy said, relief showing on his face.

Chunky mumbled a "Mmm-hmm", but he looked at Tiny out of the corner of his eye, and she met his gaze and winked as if to say, "Yes, we'll go home...eventually."

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Night fell over the forest on it's own, and soon everyone began to fall asleep once again. When he and Tiny were the only ones left awake, Chunky stood up and walked over to her. "Hey." he said quietly. "Hey" she responded, also standing up.

"So, I think if I want to help K. Rool, I better do it tonight, while we're still here."

"Yeah. But haven't you looked everywhere already? I mean, maybe...maybe there's isn't a Soleil Mushroom here. The book in Creepy Castle did say it was really rare..."

Tiny stopped talking when she realized that Chunky wasn't listening to her. He was staring over her shoulder at something behind her.

She turned around. "Chunky, what are you…" she trailed off as the well came into her line of vision. A golden light was being emitted from it. "What on earth?"

The two exchanged glances, then headed for the well. When they reached it, the peered down into it, blinded by the golden light. After their eyes began to adjust, they slowly realized that the light was coming from a mushroom.

"Oh my gosh." Tiny stared at it in shock.


	10. Chapter 10

**All right, here's the first of the new chapters! Nothing terribly exciting, but at least things are moving along. I'm planning to have Kremlings enter into the picture sometime next chapter, hopefully. Hope you enjoy this chapter in the meantime!**

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~CHAPTER 10~

"Oh my gosh." Tiny stared at the luminescent fungi at the bottom of the well, dumbfounded. She'd never seen a mushroom that glowed like this.

"This _must_ be it." Chunky said in awe. "How could I have missed it? It's so bright, and I thought I looked _everywhere_."

"Maybe it's harder to see it's glowing in daylight. Or maybe _moonlight_ makes it glow. I don't know."

"And to think it was right there when I fell into the well. Right there." The two of them stared for a while longer before they shook themselves out of their stupor.

"Right, now that we've found this thing, we'd better get it out of there. I think I'll be able to climb into the well without falling. Do you think you'll be able to pull me out?" Tiny tilted her head.

Chunky gulped. He moved his left arm tentatively and opened and closed his hand. Throughout the day, the burning pain he'd felt in it had lessened to a dull ache. It was improving, but was it really in a condition where he could be lifting other monkeys with it?

Tiny noticed Chunky's movements. "Is that the arm with the bad burns on it?"

Chunky nodded.

"Is it any better?"

"Somewhat. But it still aches..."

Tiny shook her head. "You're not lifting me up from the well, Chunky. You'll probably hurt your arm even worse if you try to. I think I can climb up the side, okay? I'll be fine."

Chunky sighed in resignation. "Okay. But be careful. I don't want _you_ to get hurt either."

In the next few minutes, Tiny slowly made her way down the well without event and picked the mushroom. "Okay, I'm coming up!"

Chunky leaned over the edge of the well nervously as he watched his cousin begin to ascend, gripping the corners of each piece of stone and pulling herself up. She had stuffed the mushroom into a pocket on the hip of her jumper-she'd added the pockets recently after repeatedly becoming frustrated with not having any during the Blast-O-Matic incident. Things went relatively well until, about halfway up, Tiny's foot slipped on one of the stones. Chunky nearly felt his heart leap out of his chest as she cried out and started to fall. Without thinking, he lurched over the side of the well, reached down with both arms and firmly grasped one of Tiny's hands. He had anchored himself into place-he was lying on his stomach on the rim of the well and his bent knees were pressing on the outside of it.

Pain shot through Chunky's left arm from the load it now bore. He tried to pull Tiny up, but the pain only got worse and he grunted involuntarily.

"Chunky, don't try to pull me up! Just let me get ahold of the well wall again and I'll be fine!"

Chunky was in too much pain to argue, so he waited as Tiny found footholds on the wall, reached for the wall with her free hand and got a tight grip on it. Then Chunky let her other hand go, panting in relief.

Within a few more minutes, Tiny managed to climb out of the well. Both Kongs were exhausted from the struggle they'd just had.

"I'm sorry...Chunky." Tiny said between deep breaths. "Are you...okay?"

"My arm hurts a lot."

"I think...we should go to...Cranky's. He'll probably...have something to help with your arm. Do you think you can make it?"

Chunky's upper lip trembled as he held his hurting arm. "No. Not on my own. Can I lean on you...a little bit?"

Tiny raised her eyebrow. "Well...I'll do my best to support you Chunky, but remember, you're quite a bit bigger than me."

"Don't worry, I just need a _little_ help. And once we get to Cranky's...maybe we can rest a little?"

Tiny nodded. "Of course, Chunky."

As the two Kongs slowly made their way out of Fungi Forest, Tiny couldn't help but feel very worried about her cousin.

Would he be left with permanent damage to his body because of this venture?

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"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU KIDS ARE TRYING TO SELL AT THIS HOUR, BUT I DON'T WANT ANY!"

Well, Tiny hadn't exactly expected Cranky to be _happy_ about being disturbed this late at night. She'd had to knock quite a few times before he'd responded. He must have been sleeping pretty soundly.

The front door to Cranky's Lab whipped open to reveal the disgruntled elder with a huge grimace on his face. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"

He was stunned when he realized who was at his front door. "So, I guess you found Chunky. That's wonderful, wonderful, but why did you feel the need to come let me know NOW?!"

Tiny sighed. "Chunky's injured, and I think he needs some help...please, just help us out and then I'll explain what's going on, ok?"

The old ape grumbled a bit. "Fine, fine, I suppose his face _is_ looking uglier than usual, so there probably is something wrong with him."

Tiny bit her tongue. Putting up with Cranky was never easy for her, but she'd have to do her best to keep calm now. She didn't want to upset Chunky or cause a scene. She didn't have the energy to have a shouting match with an old man right now. She just hoped Chunky had learned not to take Cranky's insults too seriously.

"Chunky has some bad burns on his arm. Dixie did her best to treat them with what we could find in Fungi Forest, but I thought we had better be a little more thorough. They're pretty nasty and causing him a lot of pain."

Cranky nodded and his face grew a bit more serious. "I'll take a look at it."

He removed Chunky's bandages to reveal a very blistered and red arm. There were a few areas that had begun scarring over. Cranky raised an eyebrow. "These are second-degree. What happened?"

"...lightning strike." Chunky mumbled. "Not a direct hit, but close."

Cranky raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised, but he held back any comments.

"We better wash this again. I have a feeling that the water you used in Fungi Forest wasn't entirely sanitary, so we'd better be very thorough. I'd also better re-bandage it and put on some antibacterial cream."

As Cranky set to work treating Chunky's burns, Tiny sat down in a chair in the corner of Cranky's lab. She let the various noises of bubbling potions fade into the background as she thought over what lay ahead. _So, we're done with the hard part._ She thought a bit sarcastically. _We've managed to find a freakishly rare mushroom and Chunky's okay. Now we just need to convince the kremlings to trust us._ She didn't even want to think about how hard that was probably going to be.

When Cranky had finished treating Chunky's burns and given him some pain medication, he sat down in his rocking chair and turned his attention to Tiny. "So, what's happened since you nincompoops ran after Chunky screaming that you had to stop him? And where's everyone else?"

Tiny flushed at Cranky's remark on she and the other Kongs' behavior. "Oh, Cranky, you were right. You were completely right about helping him rather than trying to stop him."

Cranky smirked. "Yes, yes, of course I was. But what _happened_?"

Tiny and Chunky started recounting everything-Chunky nearly getting struck by lightning, punching his way into the library, falling into the well, Candy almost falling through the crumbling bridge, the rest of the Kongs finding Chunky passed out in Fungi Forest, Candy and DK being on friendly terms again, and how Tiny and Chunky had made up and snuck away from the other Kongs.

When they were done Cranky sat quietly for a while, for once not having a snarky comment at the ready. "I'm glad Donkey and Candy worked things out. Something has seemed a little...off with them lately. And you..." he looked at Chunky. "I _would_ say that you were being blindly and stupidly brave, but I know you're too cowardly for that." He shook his head. "I can't wrap my head around it."

Tiny felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward a bit. Cranky tried to hide it, but she could tell he was pretty impressed with what Chunky had managed to do on his own.

The three of them nearly jumped out of their seats when there was a knock on the door. Cranky became irate. "Someone else?! Who else would come out here at this hour?!"

"Don't worry, I'll get it." Tiny said as she got up. Who in the world would have come here…?

When she opened the door, Dixie stood before her, arms crossed over her chest. "Hi, Tiny. Do you mind telling me why you and Chunky left in the middle of the night _without telling anyone else_?"

Tiny's stomach lurched. They were busted.


	11. Chapter 11

**So I finally, finally, _finally_ have another chapter for you. I know updates are taking ages and I could give you all the excuses, but instead I'm just going to say once again that yes, I _am_ planning on finishing this sooner or later. Thank you for your patience.**

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~CHAPTER 11~

As her older sister glared daggers at her, Tiny sighed heavily and began rubbing her temple. "Alright, alright, Dixie. We'll explain. But you should probably come in and sit down first."

"Fine." Dixie said irritably as she stepped into Cranky's house. Tiny shut the door with a creak once her sister had marched inside.

As the sisters sat down near Chunky and Cranky, the elderly ape grumbled a bit. "Welcome, welcome, Dixie. My house seems to be becoming a late-night party spot. Too bad no one asked permission to use my house beforehand."

Dixie snorted and glanced at her little sister and her cousin. "No kidding." She cleared her throat and looked at them coldly. "So, I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard my little sister screaming. Naturally, I was scared half-to-death about what could have happened to make her scream like that, and all sorts of awful things started running through my head. I got up in a panic and followed the noise, and when I finally caught sight of aforesaid sister, she was _climbing out of a well_ for some reason. And then she and my cousin left without the rest of my family-without telling anyone where they were going-even though my cousin is injured and my sister just almost fell down a well. Care to explain what's happening?"

Tiny and Chunky exchanged nervous glances. "Dixie...well, you see...the other night, Chunky and I couldn't sleep, and we started talking about everything that had happened, and, well...I started to understand how important saving K. Rool is to him. I was too quick to assume Chunky was doing the wrong thing...we all were. We haven't been very good friends-or family members- to him throughout this whole fiasco. So I decided to help him."

Dixie stared at Tiny openmouthed. "Tiny...what happened to you? You were so adamant about stopping Chunky...you went on and on about how worried you were for him, how nasty K. Rool is...and now you've completely changed your mind? How did that _happen_?"

Tiny smiled wryly. "I dunno. I guess I finally actually _listened_ to him and tried to consider his point of view maybe?" She looked at her sister hopefully. "But Dixie, listen. _We found it._ We found the mushroom-the cure for Kremling Kough! It was in the well the whole time! We can save K. Rool-please, Dixie!" Tiny looked at her sister with exaggerated wide, sad eyes, and her mouth was pulled into a pout as she folded her hands under her chin.

Dixie couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Tiny, I think you're laying it on a bit thick there, huh?" Her voice still had an edge to it. "But why did you leave without telling anyone? That was a dangerous thing to do!"

"...because we knew that convincing everyone that we should give K. Rool the soleil mushroom would take a long time. Time that K. Rool doesn't have." Chunky said a bit somberly.

Dixie sighed. "Well, you're right about that. He's been our mortal enemy for quite a while now...most of the other Kongs would take a lot of convincing before they'd agree to it."

Tiny gave her sister a sideways glance. "...but not you, right, Dixie? You're not so different from Chunky, in some ways. You've always been a peacemaker." Dixie blushed and turned away from her sister. "Yeah, you know what I'm talking about...who was the one who encouraged Donkey to try to make peace with Mario, even though our family had a pretty bad history with him? _You_ did. And what about when Lanky first came to us after he decided he didn't want to be part of that group of weirdo, evil orangutan relatives of ours-I think they were called the Manky Kongs-anymore? We all thought he was lying, trying to play some kind of trick on us. Who was the one who convinced the rest of us to give him a chance? You were, Dixie."

Dixie turned back towards Tiny. Her face had softened a bit. "Yes...I'll admit, I can kind of understand why Chunky wants to do this."

Tiny beamed. "So, you're on board, right? You'll come with us when we bring the cure to K. Rool?"

Dixie bit her lip. "Well...sort of."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?!"

"What I mean is that...well...yes, I think that the cure should be brought to K. Rool-but _I'll_ bring it. I don't think you and Chunky should come."

"What?! _Why?_ " Tiny was surprised to find that it was not her voice asking the question, but Chunky's.

Dixie's eyes flew to her cousin, slightly surprised. "Wha-Chunky, you _want_ to go to Hideout Helm?"

Chunky nodded vigorously. "Of course-I went through all the trouble of getting the mushroom, so I want to see this thing through to the end."

Dixie's face became pained. "No, Chunky, you shouldn't have to-you've done enough already. More than enough." A lump was forming in her throat as she spoke. "You shouldn't _have_ to go to Hideout Helm...and deal with the Kremlings. You shouldn't have been dragged into any of this. Not you."

Tiny, Chunky, and Cranky blinked at Dixie in bewilderment. "Dixie...what are you talking about?" Tiny ventured.

"It's _my_ fault you guys ever got pulled into any of this business with the Kremlings! When K. Rool decided to kidnap everyone, if I had been at home, I could have helped you both hide from the kremlings! You wouldn't have had to get involved... but no, I just _had_ to go visit grandma and leave Chunky and Tiny by themselves!" Tears started trickling down her cheeks. "I've always tried to be a good big sister-and cousin- to both of you, to keep you safe, but I failed! I let you get kidnapped! And now you both want to go charging into Hideout Helm and try to convince the kremlings to trust you? You might both just wind up locked in cages again-or worse!"

The room fell silent as Dixie began sobbing. Tiny and Chunky stared at her in shock. They hadn't realized that how upset Dixie had been that they had been kidnapped while she was away from home. She hadn't given any indication of her guilt until now.

Chunky and Tiny each put a hand on one of Dixie's shoulders. "Dixie...it's okay. We're okay."

Dixie shook her head fervently. "No...no you're not. Chunky almost got _struck by lightning._ Tiny almost fell down a well. You could be _very far_ from okay right now, except that you got lucky a couple times." Dixie's tears began to cease, and her face hardened. "No. You are both too young for this. You need to stay behind-stay safe."

Tiny lifted her hand from her sister's shoulder and scowled. "Dixie, I'm not _that_ much younger than you! A couple years, that's it! Why _shouldn't_ I be able to help with our family's problems as well! And Chunky's actually a few years _older_ than you!"

"Well, he may technically be older, but Tiny...you know how he is! Everything scares him! He may be big and strong and older than me, but mentally, he's still a child!"

Tiny's gaze flickered to Chunky's face, and she could see the smallest amount of hurt cross his face. Of course he knew he was a big baby sometimes, but…

Tiny sighed, gathering her wits. "You know, Chunky's not as helpless- or cowardly- as he seems. He's managed to do a lot on his own, and I really think he's beginning to grow up. And...I've grown more than you realize. I know you're worried, but we're not babies. We're not helpless."

Dixie looked at each of them, a pained expression crossing her face. "But still...I have to take care of you. I'm responsible for you."

Tiny felt irritation creep into her head. "Dixie...you can't keep pretending to be our mom forever. You're not."

Dixie emitted a startled gasp, and as the words sunk in she bit her lip, trying to keep any tears from falling. After a few moments, her face hardened.

"Well...I am well aware that I am not your mother. I am not...that dense. But seeing as none of us _have_ any parents anymore, I only thought that someone should fill that role. It made sense to me. But please forgive me for making such blind assumptions. I tried to keep us all happy and safe, but I see now I was just being stupid." Her voice was cold and hollow, and Tiny and Chunky felt a chill in their hearts as she spoke. Dixie shifted her beret a bit before standing. "Nevermind. Do what you want. I'm sorry to have held you back for so long." She left for Cranky's guestroom.

As soon as the door clicked behind Dixie, Chunky looked at Tiny in dismay. "...you really hurt her, Tiny."

Cranky grunted in agreement. "Yep, you sure screwed that up."

Tiny sighed in agitation as she stood up and started banging her head on the wall. "I know, I know, and I feel awful about it!" She grumbled. "But I'm also frustrated with her, too! She's so impossible!" Tiny banged her head on the wall a few more times, then stopped, letting her head rest on the wood in front of her.

Chunky murmured, "I guess we'll just have to talk it out with her tomorrow morning. Or I suppose we could just leave without her, but I don't really want to do that. Hopefully she'll have calmed down by then."

"Yeah, hopefully." Tiny replied woefully. She surveyed the main labroom around her. "We should probably get some sleep before morning comes. Trying to reason with kremlings on no sleep sounds like a very stupid idea-we'd probably be so tired we'd act half drunk, and I don't think they'd be inclined to take us seriously if we did that."

Cranky chuckled at that. "Yeah, you're probably right about that, although that would be a pretty amusing sight to see. You can sleep in the living room, since I'm guessing you probably don't want to traipse back home in the dark."

Chunky and Tiny nodded. "It feels like forever since I've worn pajamas, but I guess I'll be alright for one more night." The large ape observed.

Cranky produced a few blankets and pillows and the three of them migrated to the living room. Chunky wrapped himself up in blankets and settled on the sofa, while Tiny snuggled onto the loveseat. To their surprise, Cranky sat down in his living room rocking chair.

"...you're not going to bed?" Tiny said quietly.

Cranky's face twisted into a wry smile. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a little while. I've got a lot on my mind. And, well, it's been awhile since this many of you were here at once…" the elder ape trailed off, feeling a tiny bit embarrassed.

Chunky arched an eyebrow. "Cranky...you get lonely sometimes, don't you?"

"...I never said that! That's ridiculous!" Despite the older ape's grumbling, Chunky could tell that what he said wasn't true- an almost sad look crossed his face, which was a rarity. Really, any emotion besides irritation was, but sadness was especially rare.

"Cranky, what was Wrinkly like?" Chunky asked before he could even think about what he was asking.

Cranky's eyes snapped to Chunky in surprise. His first instinct was to tell Chunky to mind his own beeswax, but when he saw the genuine curiosity on the huge ape's face, he softened up a bit. He opened his mouth to speak, but found he wasn't quite sure where to begin. He glanced around the room and realized that Tiny was also looking at him intently. They never did get to know Cranky's wife like Donkey, Diddy, and Dixie had, did they?

"Well, she was very smart. Far smarter than I am. I mean, sure, I can mix up a potion or two, and I could hold my own in an adventure back in the day, but she knew how to teach other monkeys things, something I never really had the knack for. That's why she was a teacher at the Kong Kollege for so many years." A faint smile crossed his face. "She loved birds, even those screwed-up looking banana birds. I nearly got my eyes pecked out by one of them once, and she just scolded me and said I was acting too intimidating around them. Well…now that I think about it, I was waving my cane at them, so I probably deserved it." He chuckled. "She liked to dance, but she really wasn't very good at it. When she danced she resembled an injured goose far more than a graceful swan."

"Cranky, that's not very nice!" Tiny scolded him.

"But it's true, and besides, it's not like I minded." he chuckled softly. "I'd take my injured goose over a swan any day." He ducked his head a bit in embarrassment over sharing so much, he wasn't accustomed to being so open with others about his personal feelings. But he really had felt rather lonely since his wife died, and the recent fighting among the other Kongs had made it worse, in a way. When Wrinkly had been alive, everyone had been younger and relationships had been so simple. Seeing everyone growing up kind of hurt.

He noticed Chunky and Tiny were still staring at him intently. "Bah! I've said quite enough, and you two need to get some sleep. You shouldn't stick your nose into other monkey's business!" He croaked half-heartedly as he stood up. He quickly shuffled toward the door, but stopped in surprise when he saw the door was cracked open ever so slightly and an emerald eye glittered in the darkness. It quickly disappeared and he heard hurried footsteps. Huh. Dixie must have been watching them. He shrugged and continued to his bedroom.

Chunky smiled contentedly as he snuggled deeper into his blankets. He had never seen Cranky's softer, more sentimental side before. It was nice to know him a little better.

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When Dixie emerged from her room the next morning, and headed to Cranky's kitchen to eat breakfast, she found Tiny and Chunky sitting at the table with their hands folded neatly and with nervous faces. A plate of toast covered in pineapple jam sat on the table in front of an empty seat.

"Th-that's for you Dixie. Um…" Chunky suddenly became laser focused on the grain of the wooden table he was sitting at.

Tiny swallowed a lump in her throat. "...we made you breakfast since we figured that we...uh, mostly me though...were very ungrateful to you last night. You've taken care of Chunky and I for a long time...and you took care of Kiddy too, back before we got so involved with the kremlings and had to send him to grandma to be taken care of…" Tiny played with the bracelet she was wearing nervously. "You gave up almost all of your free time so that we wouldn't have to be wind up living with strangers and we could really stay together as a family. I am so, so sorry about what I said last night."

Dixie was stunned. She hadn't expected her hot tempered little sister to calm down about the situation so quickly. She used to sulk for days after she had an argument with someone.

Maybe she _was_ beginning to grow up.

"Oh, Tiny, I did a lot of thinking last night, and I'm sorry too. You were right in some ways. You have both grown up more than I realized and maybe the best thing would be for all three of us to bring K. Rool the cure together." She grinned a little lopsidedly. "It seems to be a hard thing for us to get in our thick heads, but things usually go better for us Kongs when we stick together. Having other people to watch your back just makes things easier in general."

Tiny and Chunky relaxed at her words. "Thank goodness. I'm glad you're not still mad at us. We didn't want to go without you and leave while you were still angry."

Dixie smiled, sat down next to Tiny, and began to eat her toast. "Mmm, this is really good! I wonder where Cranky gets his jam from? I'll have to ask him. Thank you for making breakfast for me, you guys. So, uh, when are we leaving?"

"Well, we were thinking we should get going as soon as possible, so probably once you're done eating, unless there's something you'd like to do first?"

"Well, I have a note I want to leave for someone, I already know what I want to say so it won't take me long to write."

"Alright, that should be okay, but who are you writing a note to?" Tiny quirked her eyebrow. "Is it Diiiiddy?" She asked in a sing-song voice.

Dixie nudged her playfully. "Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. That information is on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know."

Tiny smirked and leaned over to whisper to Chunky. "She's totally writing to Diddy."

Dixie rolled her eyes and smiled. Silly, teasing sister…

After she had finished writing her note, folded it up, and left it on the table.

Before they left, Tiny asked Cranky to do what he could to keep the other Kongs from following them-if the rest of the Kongs came charging in to rescue them, the Kremlings would probably kick them all out.

After Cranky agreed, Chunky, Tiny, and Dixie set off for K. Rool's Mechanical Island.

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"Excuse me, what are you _Kongs_ doing here?" A female voice with a bit of a lilt hissed.

The trio of Kongs had only just gotten to K. Rool's mechanical island and a kremling had already noticed their presence. Although it wasn't as if there were any shortage of kremlings around-the whole island was crawling with them.

The kremling before them certainly had a striking appearance. She was about as tall as Candy, and her hair was styled in a purple afro. She wore a purple shirt with a skull on it and blue skinny jeans that were rolled up on the bottom, as well as some jewelry and makeup. She stared at the Kongs aggressively.

The three of them felt their courage escape for a moment, finally coming face to face with a kremling.

"Well?"

Chunky cleared his throat. "Well, uh, we heard about the situation K. Rool is in. And uh…"

"And what? You wanted to come rub his impending demise in our faces?" She sneered.

"No, no! We want to help! We know how to heal him, and we have the cure with us!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? A cure for K. Rool! How would you know about such a thing when our own healer doesn't?" Several kremlings had noticed the Kongs and had begun to gather around them.

Chunky, Tiny, and Dixie sucked in their breath. It was showtime.


End file.
